Nearly 75% of Nicaragua's population lives in poverty. When tied to the level of education, a correlation between economic well-being and education access emerges.
- Three out of ten children do not have access to education, a number which nearly doubles in extremely poor, rural areas.
- Less than one-third of children aged three to six years attend pre-school, and nearly one in four children aged seven to twelve years do not attend school.
- The average number of school years completed is 4.9 in urban areas and two in rural areas. Thirty-six percent of adolescents do not graduate from high school.
- Children in Nicaragua cannot attend school without a required uniform, something that many Nicaraguan families are unable to afford.
- School supplies are not provided. Many students stop attending school because they cannot afford a notebook or a pen.
How You Can Help
The Backpack Project is designed to provide children in Nicaragua with school supplies that will support their education. Several groups of Wisconsin students have adopted class projects in which they collect backpacks and supplies. Not only does this help Nicaraguan students, but it promotes cultural awareness at all age levels.
You can help improve the education of a student in Nicaragua simply by filling a backpack with school supplies and bringing it to the office or dropping it off at the warehouse. Suggested backpack supplies include notebooks, pens, pencils and sharpeners, erasers, scissors, folders, filler paper, binders, stickers, glue and gluesticks, crayons, markers and highlighters, watercolors, rulers, compasses, protractors, paper clips and rubber bands, and construction paper. Personalized cards can be inserted with your special gift.
